Present there were at least 5,000 members of more than 30 political parties and organizations including the Solidarity for Progress, the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Democratic Labor Party.

Speakers said at the meeting that this year marks the centenary of the Japanese imperialists' fabrication of the "Korea-Japan Annexation Treaty" and the 65th anniversary of Japan's defeat, denouncing Japan for still refusing to redress its past crimes.

It is intolerable that the Lee Myung Bak regime, while persistently pursuing the policy of confrontation with the DPRK, linked the "Cheonan" sinking case to the DPRK and has staged ceaseless war exercises in league with the U.S., they held.

They urged the U.S. and the present regime of south Korea to immediately stop large-scale joint military exercises they kicked off under the pretext of the warship case and opt for dialogue and cooperation for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

They called on the people from all walks of life to turn out in the struggle, aware that reunification is the only way out for them.

The participants held a ceremony of hoisting a large Korean Peninsula flag at the Seoul Railway Station plaza.

Read out at the meeting was a joint declaration for peace in the Korean Peninsula and the rest of Northeast Asia issued by peace-loving and progressive organizations of south Korea and Japan.

The declaration urged the Japanese authorities to make apology and reparation for Japan's past crimes and adopt a Diet resolution and issue the Japanese government statement concerning them.

It urged the Japanese authorities to normalize the relations with the DPRK as early as possible in the spirit of the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the south Korean authorities to opt for implementing the June 15 joint declaration and the October 4 declaration.

Meanwhile, civic and social organizations of south Korea held a rally in Seoul on the same day demanding that the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean puppet warmongers stop joint war maneuvers and the U.S. conclude a peace treaty.